'EXCHANGE' LINKS SHIPPERS AND CARRIERS.(Brief Article)

Food companies and motor carriers can match their inventories and load capacities via a new Internet-based marketplace.

National Transportation Exchange Inc. (NTE), Downers Gr6ve, IL, is using business-to-business electronic commerce and electronic data interchange (EDI) to take advantage of unused trucking volume.

NTE officials say the system dubbed "The Exchange," could reduce supply chain inefficiencies by $31 billion per year.

The Exchange currently has 350 members. Using the system's instant access capability a member shipper can locate or sell available space capacity on trucks already consigned for another shipment.

Member consignors (shippers, brokers, 3PL providers) can locate carriers to transport their products on time, distance; weight, temperature and space requirements.

"The system works likes a gigantic search engine," says Greg Drevs, vice president, sales and marketing.

"It takes information from the carrier-routing, destination departure and pickup times--and using PC Miler it reviews that information to determine if there is enough time to pick up an incremental NTE shipment to put on the back end o a trailer or on a full trailer for backhaul," says Drevs.

"The system looks at the available weight, cube space and--in refrigerated or multi-temp trailer--if the temperature is compatible," he says.

It can also determine if a member shipper has dry freight that can go on a refrigerated trailer. "The system looks at all these algorithms, and creates a market price based on supply and demand and lane-specific competitive prices."

For example, if a carrier is transporting a load at 80 percent capacity from Chicago to Indianapolis, a shipper in Gary can access the system in real-time, The system can then match his shipment to the available 20 percent capacity and alert that driver to detour to Gary to Pick up his products.

Both carrier and shipper improve their productivity and avoid paying higher LTL rates. All billing is handled through the system.

Access to NTE is not limited to the Internet, although for members it's the most popular communication link to the host system.

"We provide several ways to connect," says Joe Norton, chief technology officer. "One path is browser access over the Internet. Older technology plants may be using terminal emulation on a PC or a terminal system. We can provide dial-up access in a terminal character mode directly to one side of our system through a communications interface."

NTE can also provide data interfaces to a plant's dispatching software, "so [a shipper] can pass data directly to and from us on a daily transmission over the Internet."

Drevs says there are many opportunities for shippers and carriers in the food industry. "It will be hard to handle multi-stop shipments between DCs and retail stores, but it will help shippers from manufacturing plants to DCs, and especially for inbound shipments of raw materials to the plants."

Companies can become Exchange members within a few hours. NTE trains the program participants at a member company's office.

NTE charges a $2,500 initiation fee to cover the costs of set-up, implementation and on-site training, but there are no additional annual fees or transaction charges.